The Pirate Prince
by riant ragdoll
Summary: Working on board an extravagant cruise was a job Haruhi had never wanted. But when the ship is boarded by a well-known pirate crew and their Captain, Haruhi is in for a whole new kind of adventure. Pirate AU, HikaHaru, Ongoing


_**AN:**_ _I am both disgusted and in love with this story. It's so _cliché, _yet I absolutely love that about it, haha._ _But yeah, here it is, a HikaHaru Pirate AU fic. Because, why the hell not? I hope you enjoy, and please review. Yup yup._

_(There IS some **blood** and **violence** in this chapter and overall fic, so if you generally get squicked out by that kind of stuff, beware. That's all. The first rule is have fun, yada yada yada, alright here we go.)_

**_Ouran High School Host Club and its characters do not belong to me._**

* * *

_I._

"Haruhi, sweetie, could you help me out?"

She froze, pushing back her disheveled, sweat-slacken hair. Looking up into her dad's thickly outlined eyes, Haruhi barely noted her guardian's feminine appearance. She reached up towards his extended hand, connecting her moist palm with his powdered one. Pulling her up with a soft _oomph_ on his part, her father looked down at her from beneath the layers of make-up, and smiled with the glowing affection of a parent.

"Could you help get these drums up on stage?" He asked her, and he motioned towards a stoutly man with spiky blond hair behind them. "Tetsuo is having some trouble getting all his equipment set up here."

"I'm _fine_!" Yelled an exasperated voice, and Haruhi's dad flipped an exasperated gaze towards his colleague's form.

"Well, if you really _were_ fine, you wouldn't have been huffing and sweating over the past forty-five minutes after just moving up your _stand_."

He turned back to Haruhi, and continued this time with a much sweeter tone of voice.

"What do you say? Or are you too busy to help your ol' dad out?"

Haruhi nodded, staring at him with naturally thoughtful, responsive eyes. She could feel the slick slime of oil covering her right arm, and with little to no thought on the endeavor, she ran the sticky surface across the front of her work-stained shirt.

"Yeah, sure. I can help." Haruhi accepted, and her father clapped her on the shoulder in appreciation.

Haruhi and her father had never been particularly '_well-off_' in either of their so-far lives. The highest connection they had ever been associated with was Haruhi's mother, and even that had lasted only a short amount of time.

Despite the bad luck over the course of their lives, the two of them had made their way in vague comfort and happiness. In the years after his wife's abrupt death, Haruhi's father found a group of tight-knit musicians to work with. They quickly made him their singer, both for his iconic display and for the deep, vibrating tone that he lapsed into when he did perform.

Haruhi was useful to him. She helped out however she could, often handling brunt work or taking on quick jobs for small money. Her father constantly apologized for their life style, wishing that he could have had more to offer to his only daughter.

It didn't matter that much to Haruhi, though. The extravagant clothes and rich way of living disinterested her. As long as there was food on the table and their health was well, Haruhi was fine.

Her dad's recent gig was on a large ship, lined to the top and bottom with men and women who had too much time to spend and money to spare. Their tight-lipped attitudes did more to turn her off from a life of pure bliss and endless riches, and she silently cursed the brief job they had somehow been assigned.

Haruhi had been put to duty cleaning the ship and anything else that people requested of her. The job was low-paying and faintly humiliating, and Haruhi often wandered through crowds of well-dressed people covered in dirt and filth.

While she cleaned, her father and his band were required to play music at the annual dances. They didn't have to necessarily suffer the grime and the rough work of Haruhi's job, but she could feel their discomfort at their audience's probing, judgmental stares.

_#1 thing Haruhi hated about the rich:_ Their obnoxious ability to pick apart and defile a section of the human population that they neither understood, nor cared to understand.

It was eight o'clock then, approximately an hour before people started filing into the room to dance and let their careless days end equally blithely. Haruhi let out a tired sigh, adjusting the drum set one last time.

"Thank you, Haruhi!" Her father chimed, clapping his hands together. "You know how much I hate for you to have to do this kind of work..."

"I know, dad." Haruhi said, automatic with her response. She was used to it, by then.

He sighed, dreamily. "We'll save up. One day, we'll have so much money, we'll hardly know what to do with it! And on that day, we'll get a beautiful house, and we'll have a big, beautiful garden!"

"I know."

"We just need to keep working harder, is all."

Her dad turned to his band, raising a hand and clenching a fist in the air.

"Let's do great tonight, and knock those hot-shots off their well-shined shoes!"

A hesitant '_Yeah, sure, okay_' emitted from his group, less energetic and too used to her dad's shenanigans to particularly care. He turned, noting their lack of excitement, and a teasing argument broke lose between the small group. Haruhi sighed, before exiting the stage to go see if she was needed elsewhere.

"Hey, _shemale_, get over here!"

Haruhi looked for the voice, before seeing a blob of brown hair and a taunting smile beckon her from across the room. Sighing again, she grudgingly went to join the hulking figure.

"Yo, there _it_ is." He said once she was in a closer proximity, malicious intent laced into his words. The boy was missing half of a front tooth, and his blue eyes were cold and empty to human consideration.

He was two years younger than her, seventeen, but still held a position higher than her. It came from the boy's natural ability to suck-up to his bosses, and the inevitable boundary of gender.

He had become accustomed to referring to her as an '_it_', or a '_shemale_'. She didn't know why he thought she particularly minded. It wasn't like she really cared what pronoun, or therefore lack of one, he addressed her by.

Nevertheless, Haruhi didn't like him. He was a constant bother, and worst of all, an awful worker. She rolled her shoulders, listening vaguely for the soft _pop_s that came. Finally, she spoke.

"What do you want, Kai?"

He snorted, showing off his half-broken tooth. "I want you to get to work, instead of slacking off and talking to your she-pops over there. The boss wouldn't like to hear about that, now would he?"

"I was helping them set up." Haruhi responded, not taking any interest in his threats. They were often empty, anyways.

"Well, who do you think he's gonna believe? Me, or _you_?" He laughed, an unhappy sound that coiled out from his throat and into the air. "I could have had you thrown off of this ship at any point in time, I could have had any paycheck thrown out the window right then and there, but I haven't. Not yet, anyways. But that doesn't mean I still can't do it."

Haruhi glanced around, wondering if there was any more work before the dance began. Kai flared at the lack of attention she was giving him, before snatching up her wrist and holding on tight enough to leave faint, red marks.

"_Pay attention_." He hissed, and Haruhi's frown intensified. "Don't ignore me, you goddamn _shemale_. Now get to work, before I go and get you fired."

Haruhi pulled her hand loose, cradling the appendage softly against her stomach.

"Alright." She replied. Working had been what she had been trying to do, anyways.

As she started to walk away, Kai stopped her again.

"_Wait_." He said. "You have to do _my_ job."

Haruhi rose an eyebrow, staring down at his smirk.

"_Your_ job?" She questioned, her expression going slack.

"The boss told me to stay here and serve the rich bitches their food for the evening. I have better things to do than serve some snooty bastards their food. Take my job, or I'll have you reported."

"Why should I?" Haruhi asked, "What makes you think our boss won't listen to me?"

"I'll say you hit me. I'll tell him you ditch work to go to boy's rooms and don't come out until morning." He paused. "I'll tell him your dad says dirty things to me. I'll say how disrespectful his band is to dancing couples."

"None of that's true."

"You think I care?"

Haruhi met his flashing eyes with her own large, brown ones. The two of them looked somewhat similar to one another, with their messy brown hair and their matching work uniforms. Despite this, Haruhi looked more worn than him; more ridden with stories and secrets, more human in her design. Kai seemed otherwise flat to her, a one-dimensional character stuck in a three-dimensional world.

She glanced over at her father, who had noticed the spectacle that had erupted between the two.

Haruhi looked back at Kai, glowering.

"Fine."

_II._

For the event, she had put on a clean, professional suit she had found in the back of the stock room. She had washed her arms and her hands until they had grown pink underneath the hot water, before cleaning her sweaty, dirt-streaked face. Her hair was a lost cause, and she opted to just comb its oily part back and hope for the best.

The guests at the dance were as obnoxious as she expected them to be, but not outright horrible. They looked at her with squinted eyes, and broke into whispers the moment she passed by them. Others ignored her when she dropped their food on their tables, continuing with their painfully void conversations.

Some forced politeness onto her, and that was almost alright.

"Thank you, sir." A particular woman strained out, patting at her hair and flashing her date a showy grin. She pawed for Haruhi's hand, took it up in hers, and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you so much, sir."

Haruhi glanced at a mirror, looking hard at herself. She wasn't really that masculine looking, she thought. But, on the other hand, she didn't go to great lengths to accentuate the feminine parts about her, either. Rather, her hair had been cut at ugly angles, snipped away by her own hand for comfort rather than style. Her clothes were loose-fitting, and she wasn't entirely well-endowed in the first place. Her face was small and smooth feeling, but a little ambiguous to the first glance.

She shrugged. Their unbeknown comments didn't matter to her, and she doubted they mattered to them any. She slid an especially long piece of hair behind her ear- she was never much of a good hair dresser- before rushing off to the kitchen.

A few moments later, she left the kitchen carrying an order of steak and green beans in one hand, and a bottle of wine in the other.

"Excuse me, over here."

Haruhi turned, looking for the source of the voice. Glancing around, every person in her general area displayed no sign of wanting to converse with her. As she continued to search for the person who had spoken to her, she felt someone snatch something off her plate.

She turned instantly, glaring down at the plate and then twisting around to find the culprit. The steak had gone missing, leaving a lone trail of soggy green beans behind. As she turned again to squint into the direction the thief could have run off to, a snaky hand felt for the wine bottle and yanked it out from her grasp. She swished around, almost walking flush into a black suit and the thin body it was attached to.

A man stood before her, grinning from ear to ear, the wine bottle in hand. A sprout of bright orange hair spiked from the man's head, gelled into a beauty and slicked back with time and practice. Haruhi frowned, reaching out towards the wine bottle.

"Very funny, but this isn't-"

"_Yoo-hoo_."

Haruhi turned again, and again almost ran into an identical black suit. She became dizzy as she looked up, and stared into the exact same face as the man from before.

His smile, she dully noted, was less harsh than the other's.

"We'll be taking these." Said the man with the kinder smile. He held up the steak, clutched in a clean napkin in his hand.

"Wait, no, _stop_-" Haruhi hissed, whirling around and trying to grab for the offending duo. She reached for them, but they wiggled out from her clutching hands and disappeared, laughing, into the dancing room.

Haruhi frowned. Identical twins, she supposed. She slid her fingers through her wet, oily hair, pushing her bangs back from her watery gaze.

Her boss was going to _murder_ her.

_III._

Other than the thievery, nothing else exciting happened to Haruhi afterwards. People laughed, people swung their partners around them, a few oblivious couples bumped into Haruhi and excused themselves with quick apologies. But otherwise, nothing truly note-worthy took place.

She had gone back to the chef in order to make the order again, after explaining to the table of disappointed patrons about what had happened to their food. The chef, in a haughty tone, informed her that the stolen steak had been the best quality that they had- along with that specific brand of wine.

Haruhi shuddered. She and her father didn't have much money, especially not enough to pay back the ship for their missing extravagances. The overall sum of the missing items made up over half of what they were being paid to be on the ship, and that was if her boss didn't outright cut them off because of Haruhi's mistake.

She was thinking on this when a very familiar suit came whizzing past her. Ready for action, her hand flew up to his sleeve, pulling the orange-haired twin back towards her.

"_You_!" She said, dragging the man towards her. "I need that steak and wine back _now_!"

The man, to Haruhi's surprised, emitted an agonized moan in a meager form of response. Glaring down at her with pain-clouded eyes, the twin wobbled in his spot.

"The steak... Was bad." He managed to choke out, before pressing a hand against his mouth.

"Well, you could have been refunded, if you'd been the one to purchase the steak in the first place." Haruhi mentioned, holding onto his arm with a steady hand. The man tried to pull away, but could not in his current condition.

"I need you to pay me in full price for what you stole."

"_Okay!_ Just let me go to the bathroom!"

Haruhi shook her head. "I can't let you out of my sight until I have the money."

The man paused, frowning down at her. Sighing in defeat, he pointed towards a large ice statue besides a glass door.

"My twin is over there, finishing off the wine. Tell _him_ to give you the money."

"Are you sure?" Haruhi asked, searching his eyes. They held little else but suffering, but she could see a little hostile truth behind them.

"_Yes_. Please let go."

She did, and then fled towards the ice statue. It was shaped into a delicate angel, the robes that rested around its smooth body done with utmost care and perfection. The ice sculpture rose high above the heads of the dancing couples, posing a high risk of injury if it ever happened to fall.

Approaching it, she could just see a hint of gelled hair and hear the clink of a bottle against linoleum floor.

Haruhi tiptoed around the ice statue. The man sat against the glass paneling of the doors, his head pressed underneath the door handle and his vibrant hair mussed against the pale gloss. The bottle of wine rested in his lap, sitting idly between his pant legs. His suit jacket in itself looked as though it could have wracked up a few hundred dollars, and Haruhi pondered on what could have pushed the two to steal something they could of as easily purchased.

Maybe they weren't supposed to be there in the first place. Or, Haruhi thought, they could have been underage. The boyish faces they both sported hinted that they may not have been in their teens anymore, but they certainly weren't _old_.

The man looked to his right, staring holes into the other direction. Haruhi glanced over his shoulder, but she could see nothing of interest. His eyes were glazed, the effect of alcohol washing over him.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

Just as Haruhi leaped forward, she noticed two things. The first thing she noticed were the approaching lights outside of the glass doors, floating on the night sea. The second thing was how fast the other came to notice her scheme, flipping himself over and blocking her torso with utmost skill.

Despite this, Haruhi was much smaller and swifter than he was, due to years of work and also _not_ being the one drunk off their ass. She snatched up the wine bottle, holding it to her chest in a quiet victory.

"You shouldn't steal." She informed him, before tapping the bottom of the wine bottle with her palm. "It's empty, too."

"_You_-" He slurred, and made to run. Haruhi grabbed his ankle as he got up, and he came toppling over onto the ground.

"_Ow_!"

"You owe me money." She told him, holding his leg with the same strength as she had on his twin. Their parallel situations intrigued her, and she watched as the other feebly attempted at escape.

"I don't have any money with me!" He spat back at her.

"Then go to your room and get some."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because _she_ doesn't know that we're out!" He blurted, the words tumbling out of him.

He paused, a wave of soberness momentarily draining the intoxication from his body. Haruhi watched him twitch, involuntarily moving closer to make sure he was physically and mentally alright.

"Whose 'she'?" Haruhi asked. _Probably his mother or wife,_ she thought to herself.

_I was right, they weren't supposed to be out._

"None of your business."

Haruhi shrugged. "Alright, fine. But I need the money to pay for the steak and wine."

"I don't _have_ anything to pay you."

"Well, then I'm taking you to the boss and explaining the situation."

He looked at her, his mouth agape with shock. The same amount of terror, if not more, was in this reaction as he had had with the mysterious '_she_'. He tottled over, scrambling to get away from her. She held fast.

"I _can't_!" He blathered, kicking at her wrists. "Can't do that! Not this time! _Nuh-uh!_"

"Well, you should have thought about that before you stole." Haruhi reprimanded, wrapping herself around his legs.

They lay sprawled across the checkered floor, the man half pressed against the glass and half crouching in open air and Haruhi's face nestled against his wielding heel. Although she wasn't much for caring what others thought, she was silently thankful nobody was able to see her in her current position.

"Let go!" He commanded. He pushed back her head and attempted to forcefully pry her away from his spindly legs, using the other hand to latch onto the doorknob and push his way halfway off the ground.

"I need the money!"

"Well, I don't _have_ the money!"

"My dad and I will have nothing to live off of if I have to pay off _your_ debt!"

"Well, sorry about that and all, but _I. Don't. Have. The. Money._"

"Just come with me to my boss!"

"Dude, _let go_!"

A deafening shatter brought them to a quick attention, partly because of the noise and partly because of the hail of glass that collapsed onto their intertwined bodies. They covered their faces, shielding themselves from the pointed shards that sprang at them. As soon as the rain of glass had subsided, Haruhi peeked her head out from her suit jacket, peering at a pair of belted boots that stood rooted to the spot in front of her.

"You just crashed through a _door_..." She said, meekly. "You could have just _opened_ it..."

The belted boots were connected to a man who was nothing short of a spectacle. Blond hair shown beneath a feathered cap, with billowing plumes shooting off of the ridges and tickling the sides of his cheekbones. A jacket, adorned with watches and buttons and various golden accessories, wrapped tightly around a slender chest. His pants were striped brown, coming down to tuck into a stylish pair of boots. The boots, as noted before, were mere inches away from where she was attached, a little too closely, to another man's thighs.

The man in the feather cap and the belted boots stared at the two of them, before saying in a straightforward, non-prejudicial manner:

"_Ah_. Homo love."

The other man sprang up. "Wait- _We're not_-"

He paid no mind to his denial, stepping over the two of them and emerging from behind the ice sculpture. The people had already taken alarm when they had heard the large crash resound through the dancing room, and the collection of gasps erupted from the crowds of people at seeing the new man.

Haruhi observed that their alarm sounded very familiar to an audience watching a particularly dramatic scene from a play unfold, rather than one filled with any level of true fear.

Still loosely attached to him, Haruhi poked a head out from the back of the ice sculpture. The orange-haired man, instead of sneakily watching from the sidelines, stumbled to his feet and attempted at a half-hazard escape. Haruhi was brought up with him, still not keen on the idea of letting him out of her sight.

"Let go of me, already!" He growled, pulling away with more fervor than ever.

"We've already been over this."

He gaped. "Do you _know_ who that is? We need to run, _now_, before his crew gets-"

The tinkling of glass alerted them to more intruders. Haruhi and her prisoner turned instantaneously, soaking in their new guests, and their equally ridiculous display.

Joined in somewhat unison, three men entered into the ship through the destroyed door. In the center, a man with black hair and shining spectacles stood in a distinguished attitude. He was not wearing as silly a hat as the first man had been, and his clothes were suave and simple compared to the blond man's. Despite this, his clothes were definitely _different_, and a purple, ruffled collar fluttered around his long neck.

The man on his left also had black hair, but it was short and spiked compared to the other's slickness. A painfully dull expression shot across his face, and he stared at the mess the glass door had left with an aloof disposition. He was taller than the other two, and a dark, blue robe swayed around him, attached to a cordless, silver belt.

The third man was the strangest of all. Barely making it halfway to the other men's heights, a tumble of golden hair brought out a boyish face. He was the only one of them to display a weapon, a dagger, but his bright pink outfit and childish grin put off the threat. What looked like a top hat sat on his head, a billowing cloth strewn around its brim and left to sway in the night's wind.

The five of them exchanged looks, briefly unsure on what to do and what was to be expected.

"Get them." The man with the spectacles ordered. The tallest of the trio came at them, lacing his arm around theirs and catching them into two arm-locks. They both shouted in surprise, pulling in vain at the other's strong hold.

"_Shit_!" The orange-haired man cried, "This is all _your_ fault!"

Haruhi looked over at him, her eyes awake with perplexity. He returned the look with one of astonishment and a deep fog of drunken anger, before jabbing a finger in the direction the blond man had gone.

The man was, at that point, attempting to find a decent location in front of the aghast crowd of people. Haruhi looked quizzically after him.

"Do you know who that is?"

Haruhi stared at him, taking him in.

"No, not really."

"_N_- How _couldn't_ you? How could you go on a boat without knowing who that is? What's _wrong_ with you?"

"I've never been on a boat before." Haruhi confessed, shrugging. The movement was somewhat stifled by the stern arm twisted around her own.

"So you haven't heard of the _Pirate Prince_?!"

Haruhi exchanged a wide-eyed look with a furious one. She tilted her head, her greasy bangs bringing strings of unwashed hair in front of her view. Searching her mind, Haruhi attempted to trace a time in which a 'Pirate Prince' could have ever been mentioned to her.

"Nope."

The orange-haired man first stared at her in utter disbelief, his eyebrows knotted and his mouth agape. After a moment in which he realized that Haruhi really didn't understand nor care about his concern, he instead chose to direct this expression towards the man holding them captive. The aforementioned man kept up with his previous aloof stance on the issue.

Just then, they were brought back to a state of awareness as the 'Pirate Prince' successfully found a place on top of a small, circular dining table in the middle of the dancing room. He brandished a golden sword in his hand, holding it high above his head and smiling down at the people with a proud, purposely roguish smile.

"Ladies and Gentleman!" He shouted, "I am here tonight to strike affections in every woman, and jealousy in every man!"

"_Huh_?" Haruhi deadpanned, noting the intoxicated resignation her dual captive was slowly succumbing to.

Turning to face him though, she realized that it wasn't just strained acceptance that drooped his head. In mere moments, he had fallen into an unconsciousness that left him sagging against the other man's arms.

"I guess it was only a matter of time." Haruhi assumed.

The spiky haired man nodded to her, before throwing the fainted prisoner over his shoulder.

"You may have heard of me before, for I have wracked up quite the reputation over the years. As a handsome, cunning, young man, what isn't there to remember?"

The man in spectacles snorted loudly behind her, his amusement echoing down the dance hall. The Pirate Prince visibly stiffened at the interruption, but otherwise continued his speech unhindered.

"Yes, it is I, the_ Pirate Prince_!"

A pose, a wink, and a few excited outcries later, he felt it was sufficient enough to reveal to the crowd his true purpose for that evening.

"Everyone, please move to the right side of the room in an otherwise orderly fashion. We will now be robbing you."

The happy squeals immediately turned to groans and shouted obscenities, and their expressions melted into those of panic. Haruhi was shoved by her captor out from beside the ice statue, the orange-haired man tossed flimsily over his other shoulder.

"We will not be afraid to use force!" The smallest of the trio called, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

This, to Haruhi's despair, included her father.

"_Haruhi_!" He shouted, his voice caught by raw fear. The make-up surrounding his eyes had melted down to his cheekbones, and his normally sleek hair had been traumatized. It took three of his band members to keep him from fighting against the intruders, but a new struggle had erupted after seeing Haruhi's predicament.

"I will ask one more time before turning to violence." The Pirate Prince asserted, his flamboyant voice suddenly turning cold.

"_Move to the side_."

This time, the people obliged. Wary and uncomfortable, they set themselves in a chaotic attempt at order. One or two men stood in front, urging the public to stay calm and resign to their fates, but the horror in their faces put them in natural disorder.

The man in spectacles whistled loudly out of the obliterated door, and then motioned one of his poofy sleeves inwards. Spilling two by two into the room, a collection of men in clothes comparatively simple trudged into the ship. They entered with expressions of pure delight, their body language showing every sign of excitement.

The new pirates joined the men and women across the room, and made quick work of their belongings. If one of them either gave too little or refused to cooperate, they were hassled until they gave an acceptable amount.

After a few moments of this, the spectacled man motioned instead to the small boyish figure, and to the man holding Haruhi. With the latter holding firmly onto her, the five of them made their way towards the commotion on the other side of the room.

Haruhi's father had ceased his hostility, and stood stoically at the side with wide, frightened eyes. As Haruhi drew closer, his hands instinctively reached out towards her in silent desperation.

"Don't worry, dad." She told him, and her words were quiet, but certain. Her father looked up into her face with an expression of uncertainty and disbelief, but he resigned and turned his head towards the floor in understanding.

A squabble had started from the corner of the crowd. Haruhi turned to see what the commotion was, and was not too surprised to see a familiar face as the one causing the trouble.

"Let me go! I don't have anything to give you!" A shrill voice was crying, pulling and tugging at a flustered pirate. Kai stood in attention, snotty tears dripping down his face.

"Honey, go take care of him." The spectacled man ordered, and the pink-clad boy walked out towards his flailing body.

What happened next did so quickly. As though possessed, Kai leaped out towards the small, approaching figure, screeching a cry that resembled a tormented animal. Claws flung out towards him, and Kai was upon the boy in a matter of seconds.

"_Hey_!" Haruhi's captor grunted, moving his body forwards.

He was weak in that moment, and Haruhi used the few seconds to her advantage. Grabbing onto the edge if his arm, she shoved her head free from his grasp and knocked herself away from him. In his shock, Haruhi managed to shove him over onto the floor and move further backwards. He dumped the orange-haired man onto the ground with his fall, sliding his body far across the checkered floor.

Haruhi pushed herself backwards, stealing a steak knife from a nearby dining table. A pirate with pants ripped up the sides moved towards her, unequipped with any weapons but the bruised knuckles that knocked against his sides.

With a rush of adrenaline, Haruhi turned the dining table and flung it towards his figure. It caught him at the chest, and he crashed to the floor beneath the table and its clattering utensils.

"_You_-!" A man shouted from behind her. She turned, a new pirate pushing towards her. This one sported a young face, and an arm covered in a large assortment of tattoos.

Haruhi, in order to not be cornered by the collapsed corner, shot out from in front of the table. In a swift moment, the blade of her steak knife had pierced into the hand of the tattooed pirate.

He pulled back, clutching onto his hand. He watched in awe as red oozed out from beneath his clasped fingers.

"How _dare_ you-!" He screamed, "I'll _kill_ you!"

After exhausting every other option at protection, Haruhi moved away. The pirate in front of her yanked the blade out from his knuckles, giving a few yelps of pain. She turned, looking desperately for anything at all that could help her.

The search ended abruptly as the pirate let out a war cry and rushed at her. Flinging herself backwards, she just barely dodged an arm and blade.

"Yeah, just _try_ running!" His right hand dripped blood, made useless by the ripped flesh Haruhi had caused. The two of them headed to the other side of the room, and Haruhi saw from the corner of her eyes the glorified faces of the crowd watching the two of them.

"_Coward_!"

Haruhi had reached the opposite side of the room, where the ship's door lay sprayed across the floor. Glass cluttered the floor, and Haruhi almost fell across the shards. Outside the door sat an impressive ship next to theirs, the brown exterior of it pointing up into the darkness of the night sky.

The pirate snickered. "Trying to escape, huh? For what reason? We have more men out there, more weapons- guns, swords, enough to reduce you to nothing but a splat on the wall."

Haruhi examined the floor, clutching for a broken hinge of the doorway. The metal was warped, but the length of it stretched out to approximately the height of her. Gripping onto the bottom, she swept it behind her head. Preparing her position, she put all her strength into her arms and her hands for a final hit on the pirate.

The pirate froze. "Whoa now! Boy, you wouldn't want to-"

Before he could finish, Haruhi swung. Every bit of her went into it, every day of work and every ounce of sweat, pain, and effort she had ever gone through was put into this single blow. The metal flew in a flash, flinging out from the back of her head and towards the astounded man.

"_Shit_!" He cried, and flung the blade of the knife at Haruhi. The knife penetrated her leg as the end of the door hinge hit, the loud _thwack_ erupting into the dance room and echoing off of the caved walls.

Haruhi's eyes, shut tight in the assertion of the move, slowly came open. Breathing heavily, she could barely feel as her form collapsed to the floor. She registered a red absorbing her leg, and with that revelation a thick pain overcame the entire left side of her body.

The pirate looked down at her, his desperate, confused expression becoming one of amazement and thrill. He glanced around him, took his hands off from his head, and stared at them in gasping delight.

He shrieked out a string of laughter, glancing down at her in tormented joy. "You missed! How could you have missed, you disgusting brat? I was right there! I was right in front-"

A loud crack cut him off. A new bafflement erupted from within him, and he looked to his side in dumb bafflement.

"What-"

Just then, the ice sculpture slid off from the table and towards his unguarded form. A final screech was all he could savage as his body was crushed beneath the falling sculpture. Pulled restless by the ice, a veil of table cloth fell down across the disturbed angel.

Haruhi's breathed in short, uneven gasps of air as she looked across the scene. Her leg twitched beneath the blade, and she yanked the knife out from it. Dropping the knife in front of herself, she feebly tried to regain her previous energy and move farther out of harm's way. Instead, she sat in foggy conflict and stared emptily at the glass poking into her tacky work pants.

Even as she heard footsteps coming towards her, she couldn't bring herself to move out of the way.

Even as she saw the belts strapped around a familiar pair of leather boots, she couldn't bring herself to move out of way.

Even as she heard the noise of his tinkling voice from before, his striped pants and the hint of an intricate sword slung at his side now visible, she couldn't bring herself to _just. Get. Out. Of. __**The. Way.**_

"Well well, it looks like you got quite the nasty cut there."

Haruhi didn't answer, and continued with her previous comatose.

The Pirate Prince crouched down in front of her, extending a hand out towards her. Haruhi shot a quizzical look at him, her blurred eyes searching for the motive in his airy blue ones.

"Come on." He commanded, albeit sweetly. "Take it."

With hardly any thought on the endeavor, Haruhi did. Her hand, although calloused by years of handling rough work, was still small compared to his broad hand. Maybe that should have tipped him off to her true gender- and if not for the size, then for the feminine curls her fingers made across his warm palm.

As soon as they were both on their feet, he spoke again.

"You have injured two of my men." He told her, and the sternness in his voice dreaded her. She moved away, but he caught her by the wrist.

"_But_," he whispered to her, only loud enough so she, and only _she,_ could hear him, "you also overcame them using your wit, and a tremendous amount of strength and courage."

Hesitant, she looked up into his face. His soft features were caught up in a small smile, and his blue eyes were patient and kind to her existence.

And then the force came, a punch worth a hundred settled into the center of her gut. She hissed, falling back down to the floor and shriveling into herself. She could feel the glass scraping against her arm and face, but the small pain was nothing compared to the pain dealt to her from this Pirate Prince.

She coughed harshly, a trickle of warmth sliding down her jaw and joined the previous smear of red that had already crossed the floor. She squinted towards the Pirate Prince now situated above her, every bit of kindness swept away from his face.

"It'll be a pleasure having you on board with us." He said, before turning on his belted boots and heading back to the other side of the room.

In the last few seconds she had before darkness succumbed her, she looked out with an unmoving gaze at the man with orange hair, likewise to her position. As well, she found Kai with streams of tears connected to his brutish eyes across from her, sitting on the floor and cradling a bruised jaw.

And then, she saw her father, shouting and struggling against the crowd of people and trying to get to her. It was all in vain, and his eyes shook with an anger she had never before seen.

She saw only those two orbs, absorbed in unquenched fury, as she passed on to unconsciousness.


End file.
